Rear Wheel Carrier for Defender/County

**rijidij** · 15th June 2009, 08:31 PM

Originally Posted by troppojon

put me down for one.
I wouldnt mind one for my 98 defender.
would $600 be powder coated and painted?

I'm still costing it out, but powdercoat will probably be $60-$80 extra. Still getting prices, but I'm hoping to get the first one to the powdercoaters tomorrow. It's going on a SVX Puma and the owner has requested black powdercoat.
I'll just be painting the one going on my County, for three reasons......I already have paint, much cheaper than powder, and, although I do like powdercoat, the wheel carrier is pretty well protected from chipping etc being on the back of the vehicle. As long as you don't skimp on primers etc, paint can be pretty durable. I usually treat bare metal with 'POR5 Metal Ready', and I have etch primers if needed too.
I'm going to paint mine in a slightly textured silver grey, just to be different from black, and grey is a sort of neutral colour, so it should go with anything and hopefully look classy........we'll see anyway.

I wasn't happy with the middle striker plate I had, so this is what I came up with. This is for Defenders with the H/R tow bar. I've still gotta work something out for Countys with the vertical tow bar as there's not as much room to play with.

I got some of the components zinc plated for some extra rust prevention.

**EchiDna** · 15th June 2009, 09:25 PM

tempting Murray, damn tempting... maybe for the second batch

**rijidij** · 21st June 2009, 04:24 PM

Well, after a lot of work, the first wheel carrier is finally finished and ready to be shipped off to it's new owner........a shiny new SVX Defender.
I've changed the lock pin release lever to anodised aluminium with a black grip, and with black gloss powder coat, it should really suit the SVX.
Anyway, I'm really happy with the finished product and look forward to some feedback from the new owner. Hopefully it all fits up well.

Cheers, Murray

**Dave_S** · 21st June 2009, 06:32 PM

Looks fantastic Murray.

**carjunkieanon** · 29th June 2009, 03:21 PM

Looks absolutely brilliant, wish I was that skilled. Your attention to detail is amazing.

Two questions.

Could one be made by running a single bar from the hinge point diagonally to the middle of the door (rather than a horizontal across and vertical up)? You'd lose the strength of the horizontal bar fitting into the striker plate, but it would be a distinctive approach?

How strong is the hub axle?

**rijidij** · 29th June 2009, 08:42 PM

Originally Posted by carjunkieanon

Looks absolutely brilliant, wish I was that skilled. Your attention to detail is amazing.

Two questions.

Could one be made by running a single bar from the hinge point diagonally to the middle of the door (rather than a horizontal across and vertical up)? You'd lose the strength of the horizontal bar fitting into the striker plate, but it would be a distinctive approach?

How strong is the hub axle?

G'day,
There's no reason that you couldn't run a single bar on an angle, but, as you obviously noticed, the horizontal bar allows the use of a striker plate in the middle of the chassis to share the load in the closed position.
I did actually consider an angled or curved single bar, but the main point of a wheel carrier on the back of a Defender/County is to save the back door, and reduce the chance of fatigue, so spreading the load was what I worked on in this case.
The stub axle is pretty strong being the same dimension as you would find on a trailer axle. An un-braked trailer can be up to 750kg, so I'd guess one stub axle would be rated to a minimum of ~400kg, not that you'd ever get anywhere near that weight on a wheel carrier. I think the chassis would be the weakest link.

Murray

**rijidij** · 29th June 2009, 10:38 PM

Here's the first carrier finally fitted to a Landy.......a shiny new SVX actually.
We've had a couple of minor issues with the position of the door bracket, but we're sorting that out.

**EchiDna** · 29th June 2009, 10:42 PM

good to see the panels are nice and straight on the SVX! crikey that shiney paint makes em look shockin... unlike the wheel carrier which looks schmick!

**rijidij** · 31st August 2009, 10:41 PM

I finally got time to finish off the carrier for the back of my County.
The following video shows how the pivot arm, striker and locking pin work.
The striker and pivot arm both hit against rubber buffers, and the tyre rests firmly on the bottom of the main vertical section, so in the closed position, there is virtually no movement. I've got a couple of trips coming up, so I'll see how it goes.

Cheers, Murray

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svwgrErZE7w"]YouTube - Land Rover Wheel Carrier[/ame]

**weeds** · 1st September 2009, 05:04 AM

top job mate

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